


Instigator

by part_timeslayer



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Drama, F/F, F/M, Humor, cw mention of car accident
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-27 18:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5059660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/part_timeslayer/pseuds/part_timeslayer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: I take my grades very seriously and you're the lazy jerk who asks a ton of off-topic questions to distract the teacher and I might be a foot shorter than you but I swear I'll fight you- Via Jonahryan</p>
            </blockquote>





	Instigator

"Sameen, calm down."

"Joss, I am calm."

"Mhmm, I can see that." Joss raised her eyebrows, glanced at Sameen's white knuckles as she gripped her tray in one hand and a carton of milk in the other, and shook her head slightly.

She seemed crossed between trying to dissuade Sameen from harming Root, and knowing that it was a lost cause.

Sameen ignored the disapproval and continued glaring at nothing, as she had been doing ever since Harold had made some mention of Root stealing his dog for two days. Root's name always brought about an annoyed reaction with Sameen, though it was also always worse when she was amused by something that Root had done. She overcompensated her annoyance, not wanting anyone to think she was fond of Root or anything just because they had a similar sense of humor when it came to some things.

Today her stated reason for disliking Root was because of Root's terrible habit of running her mouth every time she got bored in class.

"I don't see what the big deal is, so what if she distracts the teacher? That's just less that we have to listen to, and less work that we have to do. Doesn't seem half bad to me." Lionel stated with a shrug.

He was met with glares from both Joss and Sameen, and a disapproving frown from Harold. The only one who didn't seem ready to bury him alive for daring to play devil's advocate towards Root and her noble goal of shirking all schoolwork she doesn't want to do, was John. Lionel looked to him for some assistance.

"Hey, I'm not getting involved in this." John said with quiet amusement, and continued surveying the cafeteria.

"Thanks a lot pal. That's just great, and now I'm the bad guy, like always." Lionel grumbled.

"Yep." Sameen answered easily, taking a large bite of her burger.

"No! Nobody is making you the 'bad guy', we just don't exactly see eye to eye on this one." Joss responded soothingly, frowning slightly at Sameen.

Sameen shrugged, looking surprised to be at the receiving end of Joss's ire, before nodding reluctantly in agreement to her statement. Not so much because she agreed or disagreed with it, as she just generally preferred being on Joss's good side. Lionel said something under his breath that Sameen couldn't quite make out. She was sure that it was unpleasant though, so gave an exaggerated eye roll, but otherwise ignored him.

The bell rang and the group gathered their things. Sameen's momentary good mood from mocking Lionel was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Root would be in her next class, her favorite class, Biology. Which meant that little if anything was going to get done.

"Don't look so glum, Sameen, maybe you got lucky and she's decided to skip the rest of the day." John said with a shrug.

Sameen considered that, and well, John actually wasn't wrong. It was a possibility. The only classes that Root seemed to have any interest in was her computer one, and sometimes her math one. Both of which she had in the mornings, so it wasn't unusual for her to skip the rest of the day every so often. Apparently actually graduating wasn't that high on her priority list, which made it kind of weird that she bothered showing up at all. But Root being weird wasn't particularly unusual either. Not that Sameen payed Root any attention in particular, she was just naturally observant is all.

She walked with a little less of a slouch, the tension in her shoulders that were weighing her down, relaxing as the thought of an afternoon without Root started sounding more plausible the more that she thought about it. She hadn't even seen Root in the cafeteria, so maybe she wouldn't be dealing with her today. Sameen was somewhat annoyed to realize that the thought didn't make her as, well not happy, she didn't generally do 'happy' much, but maybe as smug, as she thought she would be.

Sameen dismissed the muted disappointment easily, paying it no mind, and managed focus on being almost optimistic.

* * *

 

She walked into the science classroom, and was still finding no sign of Root as she slid into her seat next to John, making a point of knocking Lionel's desk slightly off center as she went, getting an admittedly juvenile kick out of watching him straighten it back up, his expression pretty clearly conveying, 'come on, seriously?' She made a mental note to be suspicious of all favors he may offer for the next 48 hours, just in case he tried to get her back.

Professor Hersh was just starting class and telling the group about what their assignment for the day would be, and handing graded quizzes from the day before, when who should stroll unapologetically through the door, but Root. Of course. Great.

"Root, nice of you to join us." Hersh remarked dryly.

"Sorry, I didn't hear the bell." Root shrugged, and gestured to her deaf ear.

Sameen didn't particularly buy that excuse, and from Hersh's reluctance to let it go, but ultimately deciding to just settle on a warning glance, it appeared that she wasn't the only one. She supposed that there could be some truth to what Root was saying, but mostly she just didn't put it past Root to use her disability whenever she thought it might turn things towards her favor. Something that Sameen could admittedly admire.

Sameen tried not to let her irritation at yet again approving of Root show, keeping her face carefully blank. She knew that Root thoroughly enjoyed annoying anyone she could, even if she didn't know the exact reason for their annoyance. She was determined not to give Root the satisfaction.

Her jaw tensed as she realized that she hadn't entirely succeeded when Root smirked right at her and playfully waved, before taking her seat next to Daniel, one of her computer nerd friends that she sat with in the cafeteria or dragged into trouble with her, when she wasn't in one of her loner moods. Which was actually pretty rare for someone who talked as much as Root did. Apparently you can be both irritatingly conversational and a misanthrope.

John glanced at Sameen sympathetically, and went about the assignment. She followed suit and things actually went fairly smoothly for all of ten minutes. And then she noticed the obnoxious tapping coming from the row in front of them.

Looks like Root was already getting restless and fidgety, which meant that she was close to that point where she felt the need to bring everyone down with her. Not that Sameen knew that because she was hyper-aware of Root and her ticks, she wasn't, no matter what Zoe tried to imply about her 'relationship' with Root. It was just that Root wasn't the kind of person who was easy to ignore. Though, admittedly, it did seem like Sameen was one of only a handful of people who seemed to feel that way.

Sameen tried to ignore Root, and complete her assignment, but it was somewhat difficult to do as Root was now staring at her. She had been gazing around the room, but for some reason Root tended to always focus on her when she lost interest in her work. Sameen refused to humor her by acknowledging her presence. Root let out an melodramatic sigh, and gave up. Sameen smirked.

Which she immediately realized was a mistake as Root took note of her pleasure, and gave a secretive, oh so condescending, smile. Sameen narrowed her eyes. Root responded with her signature annoying move. She raised her hand.

Sameen bit the inside of her cheek to keep from groaning aloud. Now, if anyone else had had a question, Sameen wouldn't have minded. She was fairly inquisitive herself, so she got wanting to have her questions answered, making sure that she had completely mastered whatever topic they were going over. However, Root's motivations were never particularly pure.

Sameen could see students around her had noticed Root's hand as well, and a frustrating number of them look relieved, putting pencils down, and pushing papers away in anticipation. Sameen put her hand up quickly, and waved it around, hoping to get Hersh's attention first. What she was planning to do once she had it, well that she wasn't sure of, but improvising was a talent of her's so she was pretty sure she'd be able to figure it out.

Root glanced at her, appearing completely indifferent but for the slightest upward curl of her mouth, before sitting up straighter in her chair, effectively blocking Sameen from view. John coughed out a laugh as Sameen's jaw dropped. She was tempted to hurt John, but acknowledged that at least he looked apologetic, unlike some people who were sitting right in front of her and who's smugness she could feel radiating off of them. Hersh looked up and gestured for Root to speak just as Sameen pulled her legs up into her seat and kneeled on them, giving her just the few inches she needed to be visible.

She could hear a few people giggling, John once again being one of them, and glared at everyone she suspected of doing it as she threw herself back into her seat. It rocked back onto it's hind legs, and slammed forward noisily, just in time to drown out the beginning of whatever Root was going to say. Root gave an exasperated look. Well, that was something at least. Root hated being interrupted during one of her dramatic moments.

"Professor Hersh, in your professional opinion, how long would it take for a body to be burned beyond hope of identification? I'm asking for a friend." Root smiled winningly as though that would somehow make the question less creepy.

It didn't. In fact, Sameen was pretty sure that the innocent schoolgirl thing made it worse. The students who had actually been paying attention to the question looked a little weirded out, but Hersh himself looked concernedly interested, probably the main reason that Root would ask that sort of question in class.

Sameen shook her head in disbelief.

"Yeah, tell her how to get rid of a body. Afterwards, you can give her some detailed instructions on how to make a horcrux."

"Can it, Shaw." Hersh said pointing at her briefly before turning back to Root.

Sameen gave an exasperated huff, but did as she was told. Root looked at her, insufferably affectionate, and chatted on back and forth with Hersh. Some of the kids were looking a little green at the subject matter, and Sameen was annoyed to realize that she herself was more than a little interested in the conversation.

"As fascinating as this is, is any of this going to show up on the exams, or is all this talk just a waste of time?"

"Now Sameen, don't be rude, any knowledge is anything but a waste of time."

"It can be managed practically though. This isn't the time for this, and we could be focusing on something that actually counts towards our grades. I know you don't care about that but some of us do."

"I'm sure you do." Root said, sounding bored and superior.

She turned back around to the front of the room, apparently considering the conversation over.

"Shaw, one more word." Hersh warned.

Sameen was relaxing and nodding towards him, when out of the corner of her eye she saw Root looking very satisfied with Sameen's reprimand. Sameen was willing to ignore that, getting into it with Root now wasn't smart or worth it. Root started right back up where she left off talking on to Hersh easily. Sameen tuned it out, willing herself to just forget about it for today, and was reading her textbook when she felt John nudge her in the ribs.

She raised an eyebrow at him, and he gestured to Root who was looking at her expectantly.

"What?"

"I asked what your thoughts were." Root answered, putting an elbow on the back of her chair, and cupping her neck with her hand.

"You're not dragging me into this." Sameen scoffed.

"Is it because you don't know the answer?" Root asked 'innocently.'

"No." Sameen lied.

"Mhmm."

Sameen stood up evenly, walked over to Root, who had stood, unperturbed, to meet her, and gripped the neck of her shirt while craning her neck back to look into Root's eyes. Root smiled.

"You two, out. And take these with you." Hersh interceded calmly from the front of the room.

Root frowned and looked expectantly at the hand still clutching her shirt. Sameen released it dismissively and left the room, taking the pink detention slip off of Hersh's desk on the way out. She could hear Root coming up right behind her, their footsteps echoing unevenly down the hallway.

Sameen was slightly surprised to see that they weren't the only ones around, Leon passed by her with a nod and kept looking over his shoulder. Sameen wasn't overly interested in whatever he was doing, but decided to mention his behavior to John and Finch next time she saw them. For some reason the two of them were always going to the little weasel's rescue when he got into trouble.

"So, am I going to be spending the afternoon with you tomorrow?" Root asked, sickly sweet.

"Well, thanks to you, it doesn't look like I have a lot choice." Root just looked at her pityingly.

Sameen recalled Root's lack of interest in her academics, and wondered if Root considered not attending and risking more trouble a serious option. The bell rang before Sameen could decide on a response to Root's lack of one, and Root left the school through the metal double-doors without a backward glance. Sameen shook her head at the theatrical exit, smiling, just a little, and continued on to her next class.

* * *

 

"Really, Sameen, when has violence ever solved anyone's problems better than simply talking them out? You're too quick to action." Harold said, looking like a disappointed dad.

He'd been going on like this ever since John had told him about what had happened in Biology. John looked somewhat sheepish about ratting her out, but Sameen shrugged it off, not mad at him. Though, she'd probably bring this moment back up next time she needed something from him. Sameen didn't care all that much about Harold being disappointed in her, beyond how annoying the lecture was getting, and how little she was enjoying being judged.

Harold didn't have the right to do that, she wasn't interested in how 'concerned' he said he was about her. And besides, if her own father was alive, she was pretty sure that he wouldn't have these reservations about her standing up for herself. Unlike her peer, who just thought that he was 'team dad.'

The school day had ended, and Sameen, John, and Harold were studying at the public library by a row of old computers while Sameen waited on Gen. Sameen studied the dust gathering on the computers to keep from growing too irritated with Harold. She recalled that some of the kids used to play that stupid Oregon Trail game from the eighties on them, but some virus had kept attacking the game, and weirdly leaving the rest of the computer completely intact.

"You're not even listening, are you?" Harold asked sighing.

"I'm not." Sameen answered honestly.

Harold gave up and walked away to look through the book stacks.

John waited until Harold was out of earshot, and pulled his chair in closer to her.

"Look, I know that Harold can be a little...overbearing, but he really does mean well. He's just more cautious now, ever since the accident."

'The Accident' was John's delicate way of referring to a car crash that Harold had been in last year with his buddy, Nathan. Harold had been a bit more reckless back then, and was known as something of a prankster, or maybe more accurately, a troublemaker. The two of them had been up to something, and well Sameen didn't know the rest of the details. If they'd been drinking or just horsing around, but either way, the night ended with the car wrapped around a tree. Nathan had been driving, and that side had taken the brunt of the collision. Nathan had lost his life, while Harold was left with a limp in one of his legs that was unlikely to heal. Ever since, Harold had been going through some crises of morality and was paranoid about most things.

Sameen nodded her understanding towards John.

She'd try to keep that in mind in the future, and could maybe make some attempt to stay out of trouble if it really bothered Harold so much. She was a little irritated at being restricted, especially when she hadn't actually done anything that was that big a deal, just had an argument with Root. Still, maybe he was just having a harder time recently since the anniversary of the accident was coming up, and Sameen figured that she could behave, for the time being, for a friend.

John smiled at her slightly, well John's version of a smile that sort of resembled an awkward grimace. Ever Harold's faithful shadow, he followed Harold over to a window overlooking the park, where Harold was looking at some redhead.

Sameen heard him mutter something about ice cream (in November?...Actually, that didn't sound too bad to Sameen right now, she could go for something to eat), and he left with a warm smile towards her. Sameen nodded back, hoping that the gesture meant that they were cool now.

She glanced at the clock and decided to wait five more minutes before just calling it a day and leaving. Gen was supposed to have met her here ten minutes ago for a tutoring session, but so far hadn't shown. Which was unusual, Gen was usually exactly on time, she'd never been late before. Sameen briefly felt a pang of worry, but reasoned that Gen had probably just forgotten, or been held up after class, or was walking here with a friend. Walking and talking generally took longer, and Sameen had noticed that Gen had been hanging out with Lionel's younger brother, Lee. The time elapsed and Sameen was just packing up her things, and thinking about going to search for Gen, when Gen herself decided to show up.

"Hey."

"Where have you been?"

"Some lady gave me fifteen dollars to get her a book, I think she doesn't like libraries or something, and she wanted me to give you this." Gen dug a piece of crumpled paper out of her pocket and pushed it over.

Sameen took it and raised an eyebrow at Gen.

"One, don't talk to strangers. Two, you read this already didn't you." Sameen responded deadpan, not really asking.

"One," Gen repeated, knowing that Sameen didn't like it when Gen mimicked her, "I know that, I can handle myself. Two, yes. Yes I did. And don't expect me to cart around gushy love notes from your girlfriend again. Tell her I won't do it, I'll be too busy bleaching my brain." Gen said, making a face and struggling to heave a backpack half her size onto the table.

Now Sameen had a fairly good idea about what was going on. Sameen ripped open the note without a word.

_Looking forward to tomorrow, Sweetie xoxo_

Yep. That would be Root. Obviously she wasn't done harassing her for the day. By 'lady' Gen had apparently meant 'obnoxious gangly teenager.' Sameen tossed the note into her backpack, she'd throw it out next time she cleaned the thing.

"If you ever see that girl again, just walk away. Or say something insulting. Tell her it was from me. Now, open your textbook to page 411."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
